


Samson's Pillars

by Ibenholt



Category: Cyborg 009
Genre: Cyborgs, Kidnapping, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 16:26:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 2,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21665050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ibenholt/pseuds/Ibenholt
Summary: Trapped and with strangers for company, Geronimo must adjust to his strength.
Relationships: 007 | Great Britain/006 | Chang Changku
Comments: 14
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

He wasn’t bothered by the stares he got when he was sent into the dining hall. People usually stared.

Two men, one white and bald, the other Asian and maybe reaching as high as his hip looked wide-eyed at him as he bent his neck to get through the door.

The bench creaked as he sat down next to the short guy.

Some slop in a horrifying point where brown met pink was on the plate in front of him.

Geronimo just stared at his food while the others drank and ate. The bald guy poked at his with his fork, then took large heaps of the stuff onto it, forced it down and waited until he could brave another mouthful. The other one was busy shaping the goo into little balls.

It didn’t taste much, and he was more preoccupied with how he could barely feel the fork in his hand. He made sure to only eat from the top of the pile. He would probably split the plate if he put too much pressure on it.

He looked at the short guy again. Almost looking bored, he blew a small flame at the plate, cooking the goop. The bald man made an amused noise, while Geronimo just stared.

“HEY! NO POWERS!”

One of the guards yelled. The little man waved his hand as if he was trying to shoo him away,

“It’s at its lowest setting! Besides, you can’t expect me to eat this!”

“You’ll be eating bullets if you do it again!”

Geronimo felt a buzzing in his head and found that he and the others had turned to the door where the guards were receiving transmissions.

“Goddammit…it’s Gilmore.”

One of them muttered.

“Alright. No fooling around while we’re gone. Sit where you are.”

In each corner of the ceiling, a gun was lowered and aimed at them. The same ones that had pelted him full of bullets last week. And the week before that.

As soon as the others were done, Geronimo reached for his glass. He pretended it was a sparrow’s egg as he put two large fingers around it.

Then the bits went everywhere.

“Oh!!”

The little man jumped, narrowly avoiding one of them flying into his eye,

“Are you alright?! Let me see!”

He held his hand out. He still didn’t know what exactly they had done to his skin, but his hands weren’t worn anymore, and now he didn’t have so much as a scratch.

The man picked the small shards out of his hand, then moved it between his own. Short, thick fingers on broad hands, that still looked like he was a doll compared to him.

“Huh! Look at you!”

“Thanks for waiting until we were done eating.”

The bald guy said. He had a posh British accent.

“I’m 007. This is 006.”

“Guess that makes you 005, huh?”

The shorty said. Geronimo nodded.

“Do you talk at all?”

“007!”

006 snapped, but he looked equally curious.

“Sometimes.”

He said, voice raspy. Had been a while. These days, he mostly said yes or no to the scientists. They didn’t require much more.

He looked around,

“Where are we?”

The two shared a knowing look, and then a sharp pain had him wincing and reaching for his temple. It felt like the inner radio was on the fritz.

‘We’re not entirely sure.’

The Englishman said. Only he wasn’t moving his lips.

‘But we’re in big trouble.’


	2. Chapter 2

“You’re getting better.”

007 observed, watching as 005 moved the glass back and forth between his hands.

“Are you training with the doctors, too?”

“No. They want me to destroy things.”

“Oh yes?”

“Tanks and brick walls.”

He said, still focused on the glass.

“Goodness…”

006 muttered.

“That’s easy. This is not.”

He sighed as he crushed the glass between his fingers yet again.


	3. Chapter 3

“You share a room?”

“And a bed.”

006 flung a spoonful of goop at 007 who just laughed heartily. Geronimo wasn’t certain what 006 was so shy for. 5 minutes with the men would make it clear to anyone that they were more than friends. It had now been one week. Several meals, and therefore much talking.

“You’re all alone?”

“Yes.”

“How odd… I always wondered if there were more of us.”

“Well, there has to be! 001-004 have to be somewhere! If they were dead, they’d just tack their numbers onto us, right?”

Geronimo shrugged.

“Perhaps it’s best not think about it.”

006 poked at his food,

“I feel a bit bad for you. 007 snores like a thunderstorm, but it’s nice to have the company.”

“Oh, I snore? You talk in your sleep!”

“I do not!!”

“Just last night you talked nonsense about pigs for 5 minutes!”

“You don’t even speak Chinese!! How would you know!”

“Oh, I do recognize the word for pig, my friend! You always make this weird snort when you say it!”

Geronimo looked at them as they continued to bicker, and for the first time since he’d arrived felt a smile tug at the corner of his mouth.


	4. Chapter 4

Geronimo held his hands up,

“Don’t worry. I mean you no harm.”

“They keep saying that…”

The man muttered. His skin was the color of coffee, and his hair an ashy blonde. Dark grey eyes were measuring him as he kept aiming at him, and he was so beautiful that Geronimo almost didn’t mind.

The training grounds were lush and green, but there was something artificial about them that kept Geronimo from enjoying them. That was, those short windows of time where no one was shooting at him or blowing up rocks so see how his skin dealt with that kind of damage.

“I mean it. I’m like you.”

A little embarrassed, he took his jacket, which should be proof enough, off and showed him the mark on his bicep. He heard the weapon powering down. The anger gone from his eyes, he looked defeated,

“Please… what the hell is going on here?”

“I’m not sure. None of us are. But we need to move.” 

Another gun shot rang out, and 006 appeared, being carried by a giant bird with human eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

He and 008 are quiet the next morning at breakfast. Not that 006 and 007 mind, as they talk enough for all four of them.

“You were talking about pigs again!”

“It’s the only thing distracting me from your snoring!”

“You could sleep through a gun run, and you know it!!”

007 turns to them,

“You two lads are sharing a room now, aren’t you?”

They nod,

“Don’t start sleeping together. This is a nightmare.”

006 punches his arm hard,

“HOW DARE YOU!”

008 looks surprised up at Geronimo who only shrugs back at him. He’ll get used to it, too.


	6. Chapter 6

008 tosses and turns before he sits up covered in a sheen of sweat,

“NO!”

‘The raid again?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Wanna talk about it?’

‘No.’

‘Do you want some water?’

‘No, I’m good. Sorry. Just go back to sleep.’

He turns over, pulling his blanket around himself. He’s curled up as much as possible, but the damn thing is still too small. He always falls asleep, but he’s always cold when it happens.

‘005?’

‘Yes?’

‘What was your name?’

‘Geronimo. Geronimo Junior.’

He waits so long that he thinks he’s almost gone back to sleep when the radio starts up again,

‘Mine was Pyunma.’


	7. Chapter 7

During dinner, 006 is gone, and 007 is twiddling his thumbs.

“They just came and took him. Didn’t say what it was about. They haven’t done that in a year!”

Neither he, nor Pyunma have any words of comfort. And even if they did, he’s barely letting them talk.

“And-and they always have us go together. We were brought in together, you see… just days apart. I-it’s just the silliest thing, but it’s fate, in a way!”

007 looks like he’s on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and he jumps when the door opens and 006 is thrown in.

“Chang!”

He’s by his side at once, and the others follow. 007’s arms snake around the stocky body, hugging him tight,

“You’re burning up…”

“Thank goodness… maybe you’ll finally shut up about being so cold every night.” 006 mutters.


	8. Chapter 8

“LOOK AT YOU!”

007 says excitedly as Geronimo puts the glass down. He breathes as he lets go, and feels relief as it stays in one piece.

“Soon it will feel safe to have you hug us!”

007 smiles, and 006 elbows him,

“He doesn’t have to.”

“I didn’t say he has to! It would just be nice is all! For his own sake! Going for as long as we have without physical contact is harrowing!”

As if to accentuate the point, 008 gives him a clumsy pat on the arm.

During their last test in the field, he had grabbed a hold of 007’s hand without thinking, effectively crushing what they had assumed was bone. But then he had snapped back into place like a rubber band, and was fine. He’s kept his distance since then, increasing his practice with the glasses.

It’s working.

The door opens, and their eyes widen. Two men, one with a baby on his arm, and a young woman enter the room, arms locked and staring around them like they are adjusting to the light. They are wearing the same uniform as them, only dark green with red scarves.

Then the newcomers see them.

They all measure one another. Geronimo can tell they’re using their own internal radios. The baby’s eye glows, and the girl inhales sharply.

Gilmore comes in,

“I see we forgot to brief you. This is your legacy,”

He says, gesturing at the cyborgs by the table.

“This is 005-008. They wouldn’t be here without you four.”

Geronimo feels a pang that’s no doubt going through the others, and it’s followed by his glass breaking between his fingers.


	9. Chapter 10

Geronimo jumps with his back to it, grabbing 001 and 003 as he does.

The blades thrown at them are sharp, but they can’t pierce his skin.

Looking down, 003 is staring at him with wide eyes. Panicked, he wonders if he has crushed her arm. She and the others looked so frail during breakfast, and they hadn’t said a word.

All of them had puked after dinner last night, a side-effect of being frozen for decades, apparently.

“Thank you…”

003 breathes. The baby is clinging to her neck, and he has to stop himself from patting the little mop of hair.

002 and 004 looks at them, momentarily worried before a look from her… maybe a transmission… eases them. He gets two approving nods before 002 grabs 004 and flies to the sky, rockets aimed at the source of the gun hail.

“Come on. They’re about to start the guns.”

She doesn’t protest when he picks her up.


	10. Chapter 10

“002 says he has a switch for his acceleration device.”

“Yes?”

Dr. Gaia looks surprised. Maybe because Geronimo hasn’t said a word to him besides ‘no’ since he got there. It’s better with so many people. There’s less pressure for him to talk when he’s with them.

After having to calm down both 004 and 003 after telling them what year it was, and for the new generation to calm down after 001 revealed his abilities (including his broad vocabulary), they seemed to get along quite well.

002 had nearly thrown himself at him after hearing his dialect and asked and asked and asked about America.

There was a clear divide between them, still. The four of them moved and spoke as a unit, uncertain and unwilling to let the others in. At least for now. 

But there was a sense of familiarity that simply had to be there. Especially on the battlefield. 004 had started warming up to him after he had offered 003 his dessert.

“I want one for my strength.”

“I can’t do that. You’re not wired the same way.”

“Then why don’t you find someone who can?”

“It doesn’t work that way, you idiot!”

“All of the others have buttons and triggers. Why did you build me like this? We got lucky with 007, but sooner or later, I will damage one of them.”

Dr. Gaia looks as if he wants to really inflict some pain, and Geronimo is honestly curious whether he can. So far, they’ve just able to ensure that he won’t hurt anyone, using the microchip they’ve placed at the base of his spine.

“Shut up! Why are you talking so much!”

“I know you are sending me in to fight with the others soon. And I know there won’t be much use for them if I wind up hurting them somehow.”

A door opened, and Gilmore peeked in,

“Is everything alright here?”

“Take over for me, Gilmore. I need a coffee.”

He shoved the clipboard into Gilmore’s hands, stomping off.

“Well…”

The small man turned to him and gave him a smile that he almost found himself returning,

“How are you?”

“I want a switch.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I want an on and off-switch for my strength.”

“I’m afraid that’s impossible, 005. When we improved you, we cut away the lobe that dampens your potential strength, and gave you a procedure that changes the way your body handles adrenaline. And then we went further…”

He sounds uncertain, and Geronimo sighs

“You weren’t even a part of my operation, were you?”

“I know the specifics. And you won’t harm the others. I have seen how you exercise with the glass...”

“It’s not gonna help.”

“I think it will. Have some faith in yourself.”

Geronimo stared down at his own hands. Faith in himself was all he had ever had. The only thing he had been able to rely on. Now he had lost even that.


	11. Chapter 11

The new ones… or are they the old ones? Like him.

He has a tendency to shield the whole gang from bullets. Especially 003, who wasn’t made for the battlefield. An evil thing, then, to throw her out there.

He likes her. She’s proper, but not snobby. Abhors violence, but won’t hesitate to shoot down robots. A bit typical that she’s the one saddled with taking care of the baby, maybe, but she’s great with him. Which is why he panics when she places him in his arms.

“Please, can you keep 001 safe? I can hear them getting the gun wall ready.”

He keeps thinking back to the time when he was 8 and was trying to help a daddy longlegs out of his room. All the legs fell off. Then the wings. He sobbed while grandpa killed it with a shoe.

What if he hurts 001? One squeeze and it’s over.

But the baby’s hair falls to the side and one very blue eye looks right at him.

‘I trust you’

And all the times when he babysit cousins and the kids of his parents friends replace the poor insect.

He takes a deep breath and cradles Ivan close to his chest.

He doesn’t break.

Doesn’t scream.

Only keeps peering up at him with that one very bright eye.

It becomes hard to put him down after that.

And easier to remember that he is in control.


End file.
